Cathaoirleach Cllr. John Campbell with Moira Nic Gallachoir, MNG, Nancy Gardella, Marthas Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, Gloria O’Neill, Cook Inlet Tribal Council Alaska, Michael O’hEanaigh, Donegal County Council, Ann Burke, Economic Development Council of Western Massachussetts, Joan Crawford, Failte Ireland, Aideen Doherty, Donegal County Council, Patsy Donaghy Co-Lab and Nollaig Crombie, LYIT.
Donegal County Council is continuously looking for ways to promote this county and its people and in ways that are both complementary to its natural resources and the strengths and skills of its people.
A number of people were invited to come to the county last week for a weeklong series of events to set the context, investigate the opportunity, explore the potential and seek to deliver a range of initiatives that will enable creative and cultural stakeholders to grow their business by taking advantage of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Nancy Gardella Executive Director Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce; Ann Burke Vice President Economic Development Council Western Massachusetts and Gloria O’Neill President and CEO of Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) Anchorage Alaska related their stories and strategies at events during the week and at an inspirational and thought provoking seminar entitled ‘Cultural Tourism Product and Creative Economy on the Wild Atlantic Way’ which was organised as part of the Council’s Donegal Diaspora project.
This event, which took place at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, also included local input from Joan Crawford, Fáilte Ireland North West and Moira Ní Ghallachóir, founder of MNG and organizer of Rock agus Roam.
Almost 100 attendees attended to listen to the various initiatives, strategies and ideas that had already proven successful in the US and at home. All speakers guided the audience through their project developments and how they managed to identify stabilization and then growth opportunities in their chosen fields.
They also fielded a range of questions from the local entrepreneurs and identified how, from their viewpoint, the Wild Atlantic Way opportunities could be maximized both as a business operating in the tourist economy or as a provider, such as an artisan, looking to establish a niche in this specialized market.
Speaking afterwards Ms Burke said if she was going to set up a Wild Atlantic Way related business she would be looking to explore the scope for outdoor lifestyle activities as well as retail and online opportunities to have multiple ways of accessing things like authentic and high quality fine crafts. She would also explore what was available from the culinary experiences
“People should examine what is unique to the experience and how it fits with your competitors but always looking where there might be gaps and of course talk to people in the tourist industry who could assist, she said.
Ms Gardella felt it would be important to look at marketing and take the stories of Donegal and the Wild Atlantic Way and bring them out to the world to draw people in. She agreed with Ms Burke saying a business that was selling an experience such as food tours would be ideal to maximise the opportunities of the Wild Atlantic Way. She added this would have to be backed up with expertise.
Both ladies agreed this could be developed into a year round attraction out of tourist seasonal months.
Ms O’Neill said back in Alaska they were driven to build a model for sustainability to support their native community and they had a great vision that they wanted to share and extend their culture with the world. They used a video game to do this which made money but also had social impact.
“We would be happy to share our experience with community members here but it is a project that would need to come from within the community and that the community really owned. I had to take a risk and believe in something that was really big and sell that vision to members of the community and appropriately involve them. The community is the strength of the investment along with the expertise of our partners,” she said.
Ann Burke, Economic Development Council of Western Massachussetts, Gloria O’Neill, Cook Inlet Tribal Council Alaska and Nancy Gardella, Marthas Vineyard Chamber of Commerce speaking at Wednesdays Wild Atlantic Way Creative and Cultural Tourism Seminar.
Key Facts:
- The Wild Atlantic Way is the longest defined coastal touring route in the world at 2,500km
- Donegal is one of the most scenic counties on the island of Ireland and boasts the longest mainland coastline in the state at 1,134km.
- In 2013 Donegal received 199,000 overseas visitors and 269,000 domestic visitors and this was an increase of 14.3% and 9.8% respectively on 2012 visitor numbers.
- For more information visit www.donegaldiaspora.ie
The Donegal Council Blog 